Twice in one lifetime?
by Soofija
Summary: Casper flees Whipstaff the night after the party, and when Kat many years later return home from college, he's still gone.
1. Finding a ghost

**Disclaimer: **I own nothing what so ever in this story, and the one who thought I did haven't read it properly. The lines in italic are from the song "Remember me this way" by Jordan Hill, and I don't own that song either. Francly, I don't know who does, but it belongs to that person.

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_Every now and then, we find a special friend, who never lets us down. Who understands it all, reaches out each time we fall, you're the best friend that I've found. I know you can't stay, but a part of you will never ever go away. Your heart will stay. I'll make a wish for you, and hope it will come true, that life will just be kind, to such a gentle mind. If you lose your way, think back on yesterday, remember me this way._

_Remember me this way._

**Part I**

Kat tried to focus on cleaning. Thinking about the party wouldn't make anything better. She couldn't do anything about it, and as long as Casper didn't talk to her, all she could do was guess.

Violently she threw a bag of trash out the front door. It broke, and pieces of a ghostcostume fell out on the stairs. Kat smiled to herself. Vic and Amber's joke, with some help from the trio, had turned out to be pretty amusing after all, and the class had loved it. But Kat had been hurt. She'd actually thought that Vic had wanted to be her friend for real, but their joke had made her realize that he'd only done what Amber told him to.

Kat started cleaning up the mess on the stairs, trying and failing once again to think about anything but the party. Today that seemed to be all that mattered.

She went inside again and threw a glance around the hall. It looked all right, her dad wouldn't notice the dust in the corners.

Kat sat down on a chair, the exact same chair she'd been sitting on at the party. She thought she heared the music play, thought she saw the room fill with people, everybody dancing with someone, except for her. But then the dancing couples parted to let through a very handsome young man. He walked straight up to Kat and stretched out his hand towards her...

"Kat!"

The spell was broken by the sound of her dad's voice, and she saw him emerge through the doubledoors on her left that led to the library.

"Finished cleaning?" he asked and bent down to kiss her cheek.

"Yes." Kat had to force herself out of the daydream and back to reality. "Is it enough?"

"Of course, honey, it looks great. Have you seen the trio?"

"No. Thank God," she added. "If you don't want me to do anything else, I'll be in the library, ok?"

Kat walked through the doubledoors and closed them behind her. Absent-mindedly she strolled through the room to the windows. She really wanted, and needed, to talk to Casper, but she didn't know where to start looking for him, and if he didn't want to be found, looking for him would be really hard.

She looked out through the windows. Whipstaff was bathing in sunlight and was covered in red and yellow leafs, and the view over the water always took her breath away.

Kat let her eyes wander over the house without really seeing it, but a flicker of red light in one of the upper windows caught her attention. _That's Casper's room_, she thought and ran to the doors. She ran up the stairs, out on the attic and over to Casper's door. It was closed and she knocked on it.

"Casper, are you there?" No-one answered, and she knocked again. "Will you please come out, I need to talk to you."

But the door remained closed, and the attic remained silent and deserted.

* * *

Late that night, Kat lay in her bed, looking at the photo of her mother and thinking about Casper. Why was he avoiding her? Was it because of the kiss? Well, that wasn't her fault. He'd kissed her first. But she had liked it. 

Or was he ashamed of being a ghost again?

"Why am I even bothering?" Kat angryly asked herself. "If he doesn't want to talk to me, then he won't have to."

She turned of the light and prepared to go to sleep, knowing very well that what she'd just said was a complete lie.

* * *

In the middle of the night she was woken by a chill breeze that swept over her cheek. _Didn't I close the window?_ she thought. She opened her eyes just in time to see a silvery light fly out the balconydoors. 

"Casper!" she called and ran to the doors.

He was hovering over the lighthouse, just looking at her. Then he silently turned around and flew away. And as the wind swept by, Kat thought she heared his voice saying _"I'm sorry"_.

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**Author's notes:** Well, this is the first piece of my writing that has ever been published, and I hope you like it this far. Next chapter will be coming up soon. Please review. 


	2. Casper's room

**Author's notes:** Thanks so much for the reviews, both of them (get the hint, people). Here's chapter 2. Enjoy!

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**Part II – Many years later**

Kat dropped her bag on the bed and sighed. She was back at Whipstaff again after her first year at college, and not much had changed. The grandfatherclock in the hall still let off dust when it rang, the library, her fathers study, still looked like a battlefield, and the trio still did their best to annoy people.

Kat smiled as she placed the picture of her mother on the bedsidetable. She was home.

* * *

When Kat was walking through the house the next morning, she suddenly found herself on the attic, outside Casper's room. The door was closed, and it probably hadn't been opened since she'd been here knocking on it the day after the party.

Kat turned the doorknob and the door slid open.

The room inside was dark despite the sunny day, and when her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, Kat saw that the whole room was covered in a thick layer of dust.

She closed the door behind her, walked over to the window and tried to clean it with her sleeve. Slowly the durt disappeared and the first ray of sunlight feel in through the class. Kat looked around the room as it was lit up, and something caught her eye. A book was lying in an armchair, and Kat was positive it hadn't been there before.

She pulled of the sheet that covered the chair and sat down to read the book.

It was a scrapbook, very old and full of photos and newspaperarticles. Kat turned leaf after leaf, looking at black and white photographs of a family long since gone. A weddingpicture of a young and happy couple on their big day. A mother holding her infant and trying not to smile. Pictures of the boy growing up. Kat turned another leaf and almost dropped the book. Casper was looking at her from one of the pictures.

When the first chock had faded away, Kat looked more closely at the photo. It couldn't have been taken long before he died.

_I must have been dumb_, Kat thought. _The minute I saw the book I should have understood that it was Casper's. Why else would it be lying in here?_

She was about to close the book again when a piece of paper fell out. Kat picked it up, turned it over and felt her heart skip a beat. It was Casper's obituary notice. Kat drew a deep breath and read it slowly.

Our beloved son and nephew

Casper McFadden

Has passed away after a short period of illness

Always missed, never forgotten

Karl & Elisabeth

Samuel, Jonathan, Miles

Kat stared at the last three names, then she quickly turned the leafts in the book. There! In a black and white photograph, along with a man that must have been Casper's father and their older brother. The trio. They were recognizeable if you looked closely, all three of them in easy clothing and smiling broadly.

Kat put the book down. So now they had real names. Samuel, Jonathan and Miles. Stretch, Fatso and Stinkie. Kat smiled. She'd have liked to know more about their lifes, but she was afraid of what other secrets the scrapbook might hold.

Far away she heared the lunchbell ring. _That's an improvement,_ Kat thought and rose from the chair. She wondered if she should bring the book, but it didn't seem right. It belonged here, with the rest of Casper's things.


	3. To what use?

**Author's notes:** Ok, people, chapter 3 is up, sorry it has taken a while. School, you know. Thanks for the reviews, but unfortunatley, no trio in ths chapter. Fell free to write what you''d like more for the plot, I could need a few ideas.

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Part III**

Three days later, Kat once again went up to the attic, but this time she didn't go to Casper's room. Instead she searched the floor untill she found the crates with his parents' things. She didn't really know what she was looking for, just something that could throw a light over Whipstaff and the McFadden family.

After having searched through several crates containing nothing but clothes and books, Kat found, in the darkest corner of the attic, a trunk with Casper's mother Elisabeth's personal things. It contained framed pictures of her parents, Casper and her husband, her weddingpicture, some jewellery and letters, her favourite books and three diaries.

Kat didn't like it, but if she wanted answers to her questions, reading Elisabeth's diaries was probably the best way to find them.

Kat brought the diaries into Casper's room and sat down in the armchair and began to read.

* * *

It was late evening when Kat finally finished the last diary. No dark secrets had been revealed, the books had simply told of every day life at Whipstaff, but every page had screamed out Elisabeth's love for her husband and her son, her warm feelings, and her concern, towards her brothers-in-law, and her grief beyond words when Casper had passed away.

Kat still felt a little ashamed for reading such a personal thing as a diary, but she didn't think Elisabeth would have minded.

Kat was about to close the book when a piece of folded paper fell out. _No, not again_, Kat thought, remembering last time she'd picked up a paper in this room.

But she was too curious to care, and she picked up the paper and unfolded it. It wasn't written in Elisabeth's handwriting, and when Kat read the headline, a big smile spred across her face.

It was the recipe for the Lazarus-liquid!

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Kat ran down the stairs to the library's second floor. She sat down in the armchair and pulled the string of the lamp. The chair started moving backwards, and in less than no time she found herself in the big cave that was Mr. McFadden's underground laboratory. It looked exactly as she remembered it from the night when Carrigan had "passed on" and her father had been brought back.

As soon as the chair stopped in front of the desk, Kat jumped out and ran over to the shelves with chemicals. She began searching for the ingredients needed to make the Lazarus-liquid. They all seemed to be there, and Kat felt her heart race with the excitement. _I've got the recipe_, she thought. _Now I can make this potion and..._ She suddenly went cold inside. And what? To what use would she make it? Casper was gone. He'd flewn out of her life years ago, and she didn't know where he was.

Kat slowly walked over to the desk. She folded the paper she was still holding and tucked it inside _Frankenstien's Monster_. Then she sat down in the chair and put her head in her hands, suddenly without strength. She felt her eyes fill with tears, and she was almost giving in, but then her stubborn side took over. He wasn't worth it. She angrily lifted her head out of her hands, pressed a button and zoomed out of the cave.


	4. Drinks and confessions

**Author's notes:** New chapter's up. The trio's in this one, after requests fromcertain readers. And because it's needed for the plot ) Hope you like it, and thanks so, so much for the reviews.

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**Part IV**

"Stretch!" Kat called through the empty house. "Fatso! Stinkie!"

_Were is everybody?_ she wondered while she ran down the corridors towards the kitchen. She threw open the door and thought she'd gone blind.

"No, no, no, that was all wrong! Stinkie, turn of the spotlight."

The white light disappeard and the kitchen appeard clearly in front of Kat. Stretch was sitting in a chair wearing sunglasses and a beret. Fatso was standing beside him with a huge camera on his shoulder, and Stinkie was standing on the kitchentable behind a spotlight.

"Hey, you guys, get rid of that stuff and pull yourselfs together!" Kat said.

The movie-equipment disappeared and the trio got pulled together by invisible force.

Kat burst out laughing. "No, guys, I'm serious."

The ghosts separated and sat down on the edge of the table, crosslegged (_How?_ Kat wondered), with too serious looks on their faces.

"Guys, I feel terrible, I need a drink." She shrugged her shoulders. "Feel like joining me for a night out?"

* * *

Two hours later, Kat found herself in the most shabby-looking bar she'd ever seen. The trio hadn't needed much persuasion, none at all actually, before they grabbed her, Fatso and Stretch took one arm each and Stinkie took her legs, and brought her to this bar. When they'd arrived, Kat's first thought had been _"How can three ghosts drink in the same place as living people?"_. But then she'd taken a closer look at the rest of the guests, and she'd realized that all of them were too drunk to care.

Now, two hours later, Kat was also too drunk to care. She'd sat in the bar for the major part of the evening, watching the ghosts scare the living out of the bartender and then blend their own drinks that must have been at least 90 alcohol. She'd heared Fatso sing terrible karaoke, seen Stinkie and Stretch perform a pistolduel with real guns, and between that she'd drinken more than she'd ever done before in her life. Her dad had always said that "drinking's not a good way to forget", and Kat was beginning to agree. The more she drank, the more she thought about Casper. Why had he left her? Where had he gone? Was he ever coming back? Did he think of her, wherever he was?

Kat took a gulp of her drink and looked over at Stinkie and Fatso, who were, at the moment, trying to wake one of the living guests by dripping lemon into his ears. Stretch was hoovering behind them, arms folded across his chest, and, as if he felt her looks, he turned around, looked at Kat for a moment, then flew over to her.

"What's up, Katfish?" he asked and sat down on a stool next to her.

"The shy, last time I checked." she answered darkly and took another gulp.

"Hey, why so moody? That's supposed to be my thing."

Kat turned the glass between her fingers. "Why don't you ask that little cute relative of yours?" she said, drank the last of her drink in one gulp and began choking. Stretch punshed her in the back.

"Are we talking about Shortsheet here?"

"Yepp, who else?" Kat poured herself another glass and drank. Then, without warning, she began to cry. "He left me, the damn thing. He just flew away in the middle of the night." She laid her head down on her arms on the bar, sobbed and whispered: "He didn't even say goodbye."

Stretch felt a little awkward. He wasn't used to crying women, didn't know what to do. He hesitantly put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't you cry over him, Kathy." That only made her sob harder, and Stretch decided to change tactics. He took his hand of her shoulder and poured himself a drink. "If it makes you feel any better, I don't feel very good myself."

Kat lifted her head of her arms and looked at him. "What d'you mean?"

"You see, when Casper's parents died in a car-accident, I promised them I'd look after Casper for them. They must've known they weren't going to linger here. That promise's what's keeping me and the boys here." He pointed at his brothers, who were now putting the other guests in one big pile. "We were going to watch over Shortsheet and make sure he wasn't hurt. It's quite a good job we've done, don't you think?" Stretch took a gulp from his drink and it passed right through him and landed on the floor. "We don't even know where the flying thing is."

Listening to Stretch's confession had made Kat forget her own worries, and she suddenly felt very tired. She was trying to drink, but Stretch lowered her hand that was holding the glass.

"That's enough alcohol for one night." he said and placed her glass behind the bar.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Kat put her arms on the bar again and placed her head on her arms. Ten seconds later she was snoring loudly.

"Hey, guys!" Stretch called to his brother. "Help me carry this bag of bones back to the castle."

Stinkie and Fatso lifted the sleeping Kat between them and Stretch flew before them to open the door. A few seconds later they were flying through the warm night towards Whipstaff.

* * *

When they'd put Kat, fully dressed, on top of her bed and closed the door behind them, Stretch turned to his brothers.

"Do we have any idea where Bubblehead is?" he asked.

Both Stinkie and Fatso shoke their heads.

"I haven't seen him for years." Stinkie said. "Not since that party many years ago." he added thoughtfully.

"Exactly!" Stretch said. "Something happened at that party that made him leave." He was silent for a few moments, then he seriously looked at his brothers. "I think it's time we start looking for our nephew, boys. We made a promise to our older brother, may he rest in peace, and it's been too long since we thought about that."

The others nodded.

"Lizzie would never forgive us if anything happened to the little lightning-bug." Fatso said. "But where do we start looking?"

The three ghosts looked dejectedly at each other. None of them had a single idea.


	5. Memories

**Author's notes:** New chapter's up, not many left now. A bit sad I reckon. Well, anyway. Warning for a bit of romance in this one. Thanks so much for the reviews. Enjoy!

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**Part V**

When Kat woke up the next morning, she felt terrible, and she didn't remember what'd happened last night. But slowly the memories came back, even though they were very blurry. One thing she remembered very clearly though. Her talk with Stretch, and what he'd said about looking after Casper. That was the first time she'd ever seen Stretch serious.

Kat slowly sat up in her bed, and she noticed that she was fully dressed and covered in a blanket. She put her feet on the floor and hesitately tried to stand up. Her head immediately began to spin, and she clutched the edge of her night stand. When the spinning stopped she slowly walked towards her bathroom, leaning against the wall. Inside the bathroom she lent against the basin and let the cold water run from the taps. She splashed water in her face and then looked into the mirror.

"Honey, you look terrible." she said to her reflection.

And terrible was only the beginning of it. Her eyes were red after the crying in the bar last night, and they had dark circles under them. Her cheeks were striped with mascara after her tears. Her hair was a mess, untidy and dirty, and her clothes were wrinkled after she had slept in them.

Kat slowly made her way back to the bed and laid down. She was seriously considering never to leave this room again.

* * *

A few hours later she was woken by a hard knock on the door, quickly followed by her father's voice. "Kat, honey, are you awake?"

"No." Kat murmured and put a pillow over her head.

The door was opened and her father entered carrying a tray. He put it down on her night stand, sat down on the edge of her bed and removed the pillow from her head.

"The trio said that you'd probably be a mess after what happened last night." He hesitated. "What happened?"

The smell of the food her dad had brought made Kat hesitate to open her mouth.

"I might have had a few too many drinks." she squeezed out.

"By the looks of it, I'd say you've had a few too many bottles." He gently stroke her hair. "Haven't I always said that drinking's no good?"

_Stupid question,_ Kat thought and turned her head away from the disgusting smell of food.

"I guess you don't want this then." Kat felt her father kiss her hair, rise from the bed and pick up the tray. "I'll check on you in the afternoon." he said and closed the door after him.

* * *

_Kat was lying on her bed, one arm tucked under her head, and yet it wasn't her. She was much younger. It was not her voice of today coming over her lips when she spoke to someone she, at the moment, did not see._

"_I wonder why you don't remember."_

"_Mm." Casper floated down and laid down beside her on the bed. "Maybe because, when you're a ghost , life doesn't matter that much anymore, so you forget."_

_Kat was silent for a moment. "Sometimes I'm afraid I start to forget."_

_Casper started and looked at her. "Forget what?"_

_Kat shrugged her shoulders. "My mum." Casper was silent, waiting for her to continue. "Just some things. The sounds from the kitchen when she made breakfast. The way she painted her lips, so carefully." Kat smiled. "But I do remember. She always used Ivory-soap. And when she held me, I breathed in deep, of her scent. And I remember, before I'd go to sleep, she would whisper: 'Stary eyes, rosy cheeks, and a happy girl tomorrow'." Kat removed her arm from under her head and frowned her brow. "Casper?" He'd floated up towards the ceiling, but now he came back down again. "If my mum's a ghost, has she forgotten about me then?"_

"_No." Casper shoke his head. "She would never forget you."_

_Kat felt her eyelids grow heavier, and she barely listened when Casper spoke again._

"_Kat?"_

"_Mhm." she breathed._

"_If...if I was alive, would you go to the Halloween-party with me then?"_

"_Mm."_

_She felt him lean closer to her. "Kat?"_

"_Mm."_

"_Can I keep you?" he whispered._

"_Mhm."_

_She heared him sigh, and then a chill wind swept over her cheek._

"_Casper, close the window, I'm cold."

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Kat slowly woke up, in the same house, the same room, the same bed, as in her dream. But without Casper.

The dream had been real. It had actually happened, once, many years ago. It was a memory, long since forgetten. An event never even remembered before this.

Now, Kat remembered every word spoken, even some of the things she'd thought. And she realized that it hadn't been a chill breeze sweeping from an open window. It had been Casper kissing her cheek.

Kat buried her face in her pillow and sobbed silently. Cried over the lost soul that Casper was. Cried over the friend she'd lost, and never realized she had. And she cried over the feelings she, up untill now, hadn't wanted to know. Feelings of love. For a ghost.

* * *

The trio were sitting in the library. Well, sitting wasn't exactly the right word. Stretch was hovering in front of the windows, gazing unseeingly out into the darkness. Fatso was lying on the desk, eating snacks, that passed out through his back and landed on a pile of books. Stinkie was hanging upside down from the balcony of the second floor, arms folded, humming dark tunes to himself.

They'd spent all day looking for Casper in every possible place they could think of. His room in the attic, the attic itself, the kitchen, Kat's, previously Casper's, bedroom (very silently, as not to wake Kat), the library, the lighthouse, the graveyard where his parents were buried. Even the laboratory, where he'd have been most likely to hide, but no. Casper was nowhere to be found.

This shouldn't have worried them. He'd managed to stay hidden for so many years, so why should this one day be an exception? But it did worry them, and for one reason. Stinkie was the one to say it out loud.

"What if he's just...you know...passed on...?"

The others kept their silence for a moment before Stretch said: "He can't have. He was too young when he died, had too many things unsolved. Is anything right now telling you that those things would be solved?"

"Besides," Fatso added, flying over to a chair and sitting down. "if he'd passed on, wouldn't we had too? I mean, wouldn't our unsolved business have been cleared out then?"

"I suppose so..." Stretch said, still looking out the window. "But where the devil is he then?"

They fell silent once more, and after a while, Stinkie hesitatly said: "Do you remember, guys?"

The others looked at him, started.

"How it was to live." Stinkie continued, letting go of the balcony and floating down to sit on the desk.

Fatso dropped his bag of snacks on the floor, but didn't seem to notice. He stared at a spot just above Stinkie's head.

"Sometimes I can get flashbacks." he said. "I can remember certain times when I felt really happy or really sad." A smile suddenly lit his transparent face. "Like that one time down by the lake, when we taught Casper how to swim."

Stinkie also smiled. He remembered that, now that Fatso talked about it. Casper couldn't have been more than four, perhaps five. So eager to get into the water that he'd fallen of the bridge and Stretch'd had to dive in after him. Elisabeth, sitting on a blanket on the shore, had almost had a heart attack.

"One thing I remember very clearly's their wedding." Stinkie said. He glanced over at Stretch, who usually didn't like talking about their lifes. _It's our past_, he used to say. _We can't do anything about it, so why talk about it?_ But now he was silent, his back towards them, the dark outside the windows visible through him.

Stinkie continued talking, getting lost in the memory.

* * *

_Karl had been really nervous, not standing still for a second. He hadn't been able to choose one best man between his brothers, and when they'd all been standing by the altar, waiting for Elisabeth, he'd turned to Stretch._

"_What if she changes her mind?"_

_Stretch'd smiled, patting his older brother's shoulder._

"_We've been through this before today, Karl. She won't. She loves you. And if she didn't, her father's paid a fortune for this wedding. She wouldn't dare to run away."_

_The others had laughed, and Karl had smiled nervously._

_Finally, the doors at the back of the church had been opened, and Elisabeth had entered at her father's arm. Stinkie'd heared Karl draw a deep breath at the sight of her. And what a sight it had been. Stinkie'd seen many beautiful women in his life, but Elisabeth had outdone them by far. He had never considered her a beauty, but today, with her eyes shining from happiness and love, she had been nothing but glowing. If any of the three had ever hesitated in letting her marry their older brother, their doubt had vanished in that moment, and they'd never regretted it. As the years'd passed, they'd come to adour Lissie, as they'd called her. She'd become their ideal woman, whose match was rarely, and in their cases never, found.

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Stinkie fell silent and looked over at Stretch, who hadn't said a singel word and was still standing with his back towards them. There was something Stinkie wanted to ask him, but dared he?

"Stretch?" he asked hesitatly. Stretch didn't move a nerve, but somehow Stinkie knew that he was listening. "Did you love Lissie?"

Stretch was quiet for so long that Stretch almost thought he hadn't heared. But then he spoke in a low, but still very clear voice.

"Lissie was my everything. She was the sun in my sky, the light of my life. She was the one who made me smile, and the reason I got up in the mornings. When she spoke to me I could hardly answer. When she smiled at me I thought I'd died and gone to Heaven. When she died, I wanted to die too. I loved Lissie beyond all rhyme and reason, but she was my brother's wife." He shrugged his shoulders. "I wasn't in love with her when they got married, not even when Casper was born. But one day, in June I think, when she and I were sitting down by the lake, and she was holding Casper, the sun shining in her hair, her face glowing from happiness, I just knew. Knew that I loved he, knew that there would neve be another. And there never was. I never saw anyone but Lissie." His voice suddenly became harsh. "But I never touched her. Not once. And I never told her how I felt. She was married to my brother, they loved each other, and I would never have forgiven myself if I'd destroyed that."

After Stretch had finished talking, all three of them were quiet for a long time. Neither Stinkie nor Fatso knew what to say. They'd suspected this for many years, but never had the courage to ask.

Stretch broke the silence himself. "That's the story of my life, boys. Don't ask me why I told you, I assure you, it was not my intention." For the first time that evening, he turned around and faced them. "And I'd appreciate if we never talked about it again."

His brothers nodded, and with that, Stretch left the room.


	6. Two surprises

**Author's notes:** Ok, people, you're up for a real cliffhanger this time. But, please don't kill me, you do want to know the end of this story, don't you? But you'll have to wait, 'cause I'm going on a weeks vacation now. So, review after this one, and the next chapter will be up in a week. And thanks so much for the reviews I've gotten this far.

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**Part VI**

Two days later, Kat left the castle and went downtown. She hadn't been there for over a year, and she needed to buy a birthday-present for her father.

As she walked from one shop to another, she thought about the dream she'd had a few nights ago. How come she hadn't dreamed about that night before?

Shame filled Kat as she remembered the tone in Casper's voice when he'd asked if he could keep her. And he'd kissed her cheek. Kat was pretty sure he hadn't ment for her to know that, she'd practically been sleeping, but even so...

Kat was too absorbed in her own thoughts to notice where she walked, and when she turned a corner, she collided with another pedestrian. She nearly fell backwards, but he caught her and pulled her up. In this upright position, Kat got a better look at who she'd almost knocked over, and she drew a deep breath.

"Hello Kat." he said and smiled.

"V...Vic?" Kat stuttered.

He removed his arms around her and took a step backwards. "Alive and well, thank you very much." He didn't stop smiling, and Kat was beginning to feel embarrassed. She corrected her clothes, and when she'd composed herself, she looked at him again.

"Are you ok?" Vic looked a little worried.

Kat smiled. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?" She hugged him. "Hey Vic."

"Now, that's better." Vic laughed. "How are you?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Back here from college, so I guess I could be better." He laughed again. "Not much's changed here." he said and looked around. "Are you at college?" Kat nodded. "Where?"

She blushed slightly. "Harvard Law."

Vic gave a low whistle. "Wow! You've done good. Still living up at Whipstaff?"

Kat nodded again, and at the same time she felt a drop of rain land on her forehead.

"Hey, Vic, do you want to go for coffee before we both get soaked?"

He nodded, and they walked towards the nearest coffeeshop.

* * *

Vic and Kat sat at the coffeeshop for three hours. They talked about old times, about what they'd done since High School, about old classmates. They laughed and joked and time sped away.

When they stood outside the coffeeshop, ready to say goodbye, Kat wondered where time had gone, and what she'd done with it. She hadn't thought about Casper once for three hours, and it almost made her feel guilty.

Kat stretched out her hand towards Vic. "It was nice to meet you again, Vic. We'll have to do this again real soon."

"Yes, you're right. Real soon." Vic took her hand, but he didn't shake it. Instead he pulled her close, put his arms around her and kissed her.

Kat felt his lips meet hers, and she opened her mouth in pure surprise. Vic moaned thankfully and slid his tongue between her lips.

Kat let him kiss her for a while before she gently pulled back. Vis smiled at her, but when he saw the look, or lack of look, in her face, his smile died.

"What's wrong?"

Kat shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I...I don't feel anything, Vic. Nothing at all." She smiled apologetically and stroke his cheek. "I'm sorry. I have to go now, but I'll see you around, ok?" She turned around and left a dumbstruck Vic standing alone on the sidewalk.

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When Kat sat on the bus, she thought about what'd happened. She wasn't chocked, she'd somehow known it was coming. Had Vic kissed her three years ago, she'd have been overjoyed. Back then it'd been all she wanted. But now...now she didn't feel anything. It'd been like kissing a mannequin. She'd felt dead inside.

She got of the bus at the road up to Whipstaff. It'd stopped raining, and she started walking along the road, trying not to think about the kiss.

There were no lights along this road. All Kat had to walk after was the big silhouette of Whipstaff. She many times felt as if she was being watched, but she told herself she was being silly. Who'd be watching her? The trio, of course, looking for a suitable moment to scare her, but they wouldn't, and couldn't, harm her.

Kat passed through the gates, and when she was about to put her foot on the stairs up to the castle, she felt strong hands grab her arms and pull her into the shadows. Kat was about to scream, but a hand was put over her mouth from behind and she was spun around. When she saw who was holding her, she almost screamed again, but the hand over her mouth stopped her.

She'd last seen this face many years ago at a Halloween-party, when he'd danced with her and then kissed her.

The chock became too much and Kat fainted into Casper's arms.


	7. Explaining and forgiving

**Author's notes:** I'm sorry, but this is the last chapter in this wonderful story. I hope it takes away the questions you might have, and I hope you like the ending. Don't forget to review and tell me what you thought about my writing. Enjoy!

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**Part VII**

Everything was blackness. Soft, gentle blackness. She was warm and safe and she could stay here for as long as she liked. But no. Kat knew there was a reason she was lying here. It was something she didn't want to think about.

"Kat? Kat, wake up."

Someone was talking to her, stroking her cheeks, patting them lightly. Kat recognized that voice, and a memory started moving back in her mind. She'd been walking home. Someone had grabbed her just outside the front door. She'd been pulled into shadows. Someone had put a hand over her mouth and turned her around.

Kat suddenly opened her eyes. It hadn't been a dream. It had been Casper she'd been looking at. Casper as a human. And he was sitting on her bed, looking at her with eyes full of worry. Kat quickly closed her eyes again.

"I'm dreaming." she mumbled.

"No, you're not." Casper whispered. "You're just chocked."

He stroked her cheek again, but Kat pulled away to the other side of the bed and opened her eyes. Casper was looking at her, hurt, confused. Then he sighed, rose from the bed, walked over to the window and looked out.

"I guess you got quite a chock, seeing me like this." He turned around and looked at her. He looked older than at the party, but Kat couldn't understand how. In fact, she didn't understand how he could be standing here at all.

She looked into his eyes, pleading to her to forgive him, listen to him, understand him, and she drew a deep breath.

"Tell me your story, Casper. Make me understand."

And then he smiled. "It if was the last thing I'd ever do, I'd make you understand, Kat."

She thought he'd come over and sit beside her on the bed, but instead he just leaned against the wall and looked unseeingly out into the darkness.

"I guess I should begin this story after that party, when I didn't talk to you. I know you looked for me, and I heared everything you said to yourself that day, because I watched you, followed you around. But I was too ashamed to show myself. I hated the fact that I...was a ghost." Casper closed his eyes both in pain and embarrassment. "I locked myself in my room in the attic, and I convinced myself that you'd be better of without me." he continued with his eyes still shut. "I heared when you came looking for me, Kat, and I wanted to open the door, but I couldn't, wouldn't let myself. Instead I left you. I wanted to leave without you knowing it, but I couldn't help but go to your room. And you woke up, the one thing I didn't want to happen." He opened his eyes. "When you called for me, I wanted to go back, Kat, but I couldn't. I thought it'd be best for both of us if I just disappeared. So I did. I flew for days, nights, untill I realized I didn't want to run. Besides the fact that you were here, Whipstaff was the only home I'd ever known. I was, wether I wanted to know it or not, a ghost, and people were scared of me. At Whipstaff I was safe, I didn't have to hide, even though I wanted to." Casper stopped for a moment and went and sat down in a chair. "I'd only been gone a month and a half, but it seemed much more. You were on Christmas-vacation, and I once again followed you around the castle. You didn't seem to miss me at all, never going to the attic or the library, never doing any of the things we used to, never even thinking of me. I was about to leave again, but then I flew past your room one night, and I heared you cry. Quiet sobs in your pillow, calling my name. And I realized I couldn't leave. Ever."

Casper stopped talking and Kat knew there'd be more. Even so, she couldn't help but ask: "But where did you hide all this time?"

Casper started and looked at her as if he'd forgotten she was in the room. But then he continued his story.

"I found my peace in the laboratory. None of you guys ever came down there, I was left alone. I only came up to check on you, or to borrow books from library. The years passed, and you went to college. I never thought I'd see you again. But you came back, and you went up to the attic and found the photoalbum."

Kat gave loud gasp, and Casper smiled.

"Yes, I was up there. When I heared you approach, I quickly hid in a wardrobe, and from there I watched your every expression. And then I went down to the laboratory and lived on that memory for days...untill you came down yourself. I watched you from the shadows all the time, Kat. I saw you almost start to cry, and all the time I wondered what it was about. I saw you put a paper inside a book, and when you'd left, I checked it out." He shrugged his shoulders. "I suppose you can guess the rest."

Kat nodded slowly. "You found the recipe and made the Lazarus-liquid. And then you used the machine." She felt tears gather in her eyes. "And now you are telling me that all these years you've been in this house, that you've been watching me? And you never once told me, or showed yourself." The tears were now rolling down her cheeks. " Don't you know how much I missed you, Casper? You were my only friend, and you left me." Casper rose from the chair and walked towards her, but Kat pulled back towards the wall, and he stopped in the middle of the room. "No, Casper, don't touch me. You left me. You just walked out of here without caring about anyone but yourself. Not even me. Do you know how that felt?"

Casper walked towards her again and sat down on the bed. He reached out and took a hold of her wrists and pulled her into his arms. Kat tried to fight him, but he was much stronger, and her sobbing protests were silenced when she was pressed against him. She tried to get her arms free from his hold, but it was useless, and when he began to whisper calming words, her defences broke. She lent against him and cried, and he let go of her wrists and put his arms around her.

"Sch, Kat, don't cry. I'm sorry, so sorry." he whispered and kissed her cheek.

Kat slipped her arms around his waist, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"Please, don't leave me again." she whispered with a thick voice.

Casper slipped a hand around her neck and buried his face in her hair.

"I love you, Kat." he mumbled.

Kat didn't say anything. She just held him close and placed a kiss on his throat.

After a while, Casper pulled away. He gently removed her hair from her face and looked into her eyes.

"Forgive me?" he asked.

Kat nodded and slowly laid back on the bed. Casper looked questioningly at her.

"Lay beside me, Casper." Kat said softly.

Casper smiled and laid beside her with one arm around her waist and the other under her head. Kat put her head on his shoulder and took his hand. She heared his breathing grow calmer, and she knew he was almost sleeping. She turned in his arms to look at him, and his grip around her tightened. Kat smiled. _This must be a sweet, sweet dream,_ she thought. _I'm lying here in Casper's arms. Can life ever be better?_ She leaned up and kissed his lips lightly. He stirred and opened his eyes. Kat smiled again.

"Can I keep you?" she whispered.

Casper looked confused for a moment, then he smiled and pulled her even closer.

"Forever, Kat. Forever."

And then he kissed her.

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Later that night, Casper laid awake, looking at Kat. He'd watched her sleep, many times before, but now it was different, because she was sleeping in his arms. This was a dream he'd dreamed so many times before, when he was a ghost and thought that it'd never be more than a dream. But now it was reality, and he knew who he had to thank for that.

There were parts of his story he'd left out when he told Kat. Parts she wouldn't understand, even if there was a reasonable explanation. Parts he'd promised others he wouldn't tell anyone.

When Kat had come knocking on his door that day so many years ago, he hadn't been alone. Kat's mother, Amelia, had been there with him. She'd somehow found out about Casper's plans on leaving, and had tried to talk him out of it. But it hadn't worked. He'd left anyway. But he had come back, and Amelia had come to talk to him again. She'd said that she could make him a human again, for the rest of his life this time, not just for one night. But there'd been one condition. Casper would have to let Kat live her own life first, and not interfere or show himself in any way, and he would never be aloud to tell her the true story afterwards.

Casper had agreed. To be able to live with Kat for the rest of his life, he'd do the things Amelia asked of him.

So he had waited. For years that seemed an eternity, he'd waited for Kat to live her life. And finally the day had come when he'd been able to stand face to face with her, talk to her like a human being again. And things had turned out better than he'd hoped. As Casper looked down at Kat again, he wondered what he'd done to deserve this. And he also wondered what would happen next. He wanted nothing more than to marry Kat and to live with her for the rest of his life, but if he asked her to mary him, would she?

Casper saw a red light flicker outside the window, and he knew what that ment. He gently let go of Kat, kissing her forehead, and rose from the bed. He went out on the balcony, where Amelia was waiting.

"Are you happy now, Casper?" she smiled at him.

"Yes, thank you so much, Ameila."

"And remember what you promised me. You can't tell her, whatever happens."

Casper nodded. "But how come you could do this for me?"

Amelia smiled. "The ones in the place called Heaven, aren't as bad as they seem to be. One day, you'll understand." She stroked his cheek, and then she looked at the sleeping Kat on the bed. "You'll take care of my little girl now, won't you?"

"You know I will." Casper stayed on the balcony and watched Amelia as she disappeared, and then he went back inside again. He laid down beside Kat on the bed, and decided that, from now on, he'd live life one day at the time.

THE END

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**Author's notes:** So, people that's it. No more Kat or Casper from me. Thanks so much for all the reviews, **DecidingBetweenGhouls, Shades of Venom, jedijaina, Shychick, Cammi, **you made me continue. I hope you liked my story, and if you want more, I have written another one, not Casper though.

Thanks once again, so much.

Love, Sofia


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